During their regular meeting the Altus City Council and Altus Municipal Trust Authority voted to solicit bids locally for at least seven pickup trucks: five for the Fleet Maintenance Department and two to be used as police department K-9 units.
The vehicles are available through state contracts, however the city wanted to give local dealers the opportunity to bid. The decision was influenced by the recent lower bid from Wilmes Ford/Mercury for the purchase of 23 2007 Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptors for the police department that were expected to be delivered, complete with police cruiser essentials, in 90 to 120 days following the council's decision to purchase the vehicles from the local dealer on Oct. 17.
The council and AMTA also voted to accept a lease purchase agreement with First National Bank for the purchase of the 23 police vehicles mentioned above as well as heavy equipment. The lease purchase amount comes to $1.45 million, to be paid in sums of $160,501.21 beginning June 28, again on Dec. 28 and the same sum each six months thereafter at a rate of 3.95 percent annually on the unpaid balance.
In other action:
- The AMTA voted to solicit bids for the purchase and installation of a pole barn at the Altus Landfill for parking various items of equipment.
- The AMTA voted to award a bid of $115, 614.63 to Big John for a 2007 International 7400 SBA truck with a 65D tree transplanter for transplanting the 2,500 to 3,000 trees currently at the Pickett tree farm. The transplanter will increase the survival rate of the trees and extend the total months available to plant the trees.
-At the onset of the regular meeting of the council, Police Chief Mike Patterson presented recognition awards to three Altus police officers and the dispatcher whose dedication and teamwork on Feb. 3 to save an Altus woman from a burning home allowed the woman's family to be with her before her death later at Integris Burn Center in Oklahoma City.
At around 9 a.m. that morning, dispatcher Ruth Ruzicka received the 911 call from the home of Jenna Holley at 304 Sierra Vista Court. Patterson said Ruzicka heard beeping sounds in the background and, thinking a medical alert had gone into alarm state, dispatched EMS personnel along with police officers Russell Hansel, Tim Scott and Jerry Wingate. “That saved valuable time,” Patterson said.
Upon arrival at the home, Patterson said, the officers kicked the door open and were engulfed in black smoke pouring from the home. “And think about this for a minute,” Patterson said. “This isn't like Hollywood, this isn't like television.”
Patterson said the officers at that moment faced a phenomenon known as flashover, in which chemical vapors from the carpet, furniture, paint and walls reach a high level, “And you go from a smoke-filled room to the inside of a blast furnace in one second ... and they still went in the house.”
His voice breaking, Patterson recounted how Holley was lying inside the front door of the home, and the officers pulled her out, giving Holley's family one last chance to be with their grandmother.
- The council voted to award a bid to Historical Publishing Network for publishing a Book of Remembrance for the Centennial Memorial Center project. Rose Fischer, who has written the lion's share of Jackson County family stories that have appeared in the Altus Times during the past three years, presented the discussion. The 100 11-by-14 hard-bound books are to be completed by June and will be on sale at a per-book cost to offset printing and binding charges.
- The council approved a resolution expressing support and intent to renew a contract for administration of emergency telephone service with the Altus-Jackson County E-911 Regional Trust Authority.
- The council voted to award a bid for demolition of 10 residential structures: 720 Martin Luther King, 1105 York, 1105 Katy, 717-725 W. Pecan, 603 S. Benson, 1103 N. Forrest, 712 W. Walnut, 804 N. Park Ave., 1101 N. Howse and 601 S. Benson, and the old ice house at 501 S. Main.
- The council approved the preliminary plat for the Somerset Addition, east of the Star Addition with access from Ridgecrest Road; the final plat for Part 2 of the Hunter Pointe Addition east of North Park Lane and north of Tamarack; and parts 8, 9 and 10 of the Laurel Homes Addition in north Altus.
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